


Nothing Lost, But Something Missing

by afterandalasia



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Acceptance, Cultural Differences, Everyone is Queer, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Gay Pride, Lesbian Evie (Disney), Post-Canon, Pride Parades, Sexuality Crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 05:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8566345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afterandalasia/pseuds/afterandalasia
Summary: There are so many big differences between Auradon and the Isle, and sometimes it seems like every month they discover a new one. This month's big thing, it seems, is something called "Pride", and not in the way that the VKs might understand it. But it seems to put a ripple of understanding through them; first Evie admits something, and then Mal might just realise a fact or two about herself in turn.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired, in a very roundabout way, by the LGBT Fest (Dreamwidth) prompt [Any fandom, any characters, attending a Gay Pride parade](http://lgbtfest.dreamwidth.org/944.html?thread=17328#cmt17328). Then it got somewhat out of hand.
> 
> Canon Ben/Mal, past Audrey/Chad, beginnings of Evie/OFC. Marisol is a character who appears in one of the _Frozen_ books, and she and Elsa are delightfully shippy therein. For the OCs, I've tried to follow _Descendants_ -esque naming patterns, with Marie from Marisol, El from Elsa, and Jalila from **J** asmine and **Al** addin.
> 
> The character of Aria who gets a mention is a reference to the great Evie/Mal fic "I Feel it Coming Out of My Throat". There's not any link between the two fics, and this is in a much less dark universe, I guess, but I really enjoyed the fic and would recommend it for emotional f/f.

“Evie!” Audrey flung open the door. “I need a new dress for Pride.”

“Hi, Audrey,” said Mal, without looking up from her bed. She was leafing through the politics periodicals that Ben had recommended for her, memorising names and faces. “Sorry to hear your lessons in knocking aren’t going well.”

She could see Audrey’s eyeroll from the far side of the room. “Your door was ajar. I _know_ that you know that means people are free to come in. It isn’t like you knock either.”

“Well, that’s ‘cos I’m a villain kid.” Mal grabbed a slice of strawberry from the bowl beside her and popped it into her mouth.

Evie, on the other hand, pushed her homework aside and got to her feet. Even for her, the excitement of essays had pretty quickly worn off. “Hey, Audrey. How are you? A new dress?”

“Not bad. Chad still keeps texting me,” Audrey added, with an impressive note of derision. Chad had not lasted long, once she had got past the sting of being so publicly dumped, but apparently he had not been too happy about the subsequent break-up. “I should just start sending him cat pictures whenever he does, or something.”

“Carlos is good with phones,” said Evie. “He could probably come up with something. Or we could just change all the names so he ends up sending lovelorn texts to Coach Jenkins or something.”

“I like that plan!” said Audrey brightly.

“Unless the dress is also meant for Chad, you’re getting off-topic,” said Mal, still without looking up. She turned another page. Coronan politics; they were honestly normal compared to some of the other kingdoms.

Audrey huffed. “Please. More like a dress to make Chad feel jealous.” She pulled her notebook out of her bag. “Can I talk designs? I’ll pay, of course.”

She probably wouldn’t have had to, or at least could have offered to just pay for the fabric. Evie genuinely loved making clothes. But the stipend they got from Ben was not exactly huge, and between hairstyles and clothing, both Mal and Evie were doing better than their own work. Evie crossed to her bed and flopped down gracefully, waving for Audrey to join her; Mal watched from the corner of her eye, more curious than she wanted to admit.

“Sure, let’s have a look. What did you say this was for?”

“Pride,” Audrey said again, as if that meant anything. “Ben’s confirmed that he’s going to be going this year – his father never did, but his mother went several times – so now it’s going to be way more publicised than usual. I was going to go anyway, but if it’s likely that there’s going to be cameras there…” she shrugged.

“What’s Pride?” said Evie. Mal could have hugged her for asking the question alone.

There was a short silence, enough that Mal looked up to see Audrey looking at Evie in astonishment. “Pride?” said Audrey, looking amazed. “You know, Gay Pride? I mean, it’s more inclusive nowadays, full LGBT, so everyone just calls it Pride now.”

Evie looked at her blankly.

“Yeah, let’s take it as read that we have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Mal. She grabbed another strawberry, not sure whether she was going to need it or not. “So let’s try again: what’s Pride?”

At least Audrey had the grace to look embarrassed. “Oh, wow, I didn’t realise – I guess you didn’t have anything like it on the Isle. There’ll be stalls, a dance party, and I think they were talking about having a women’s area this year? And probably a karaoke tent, El and I completely rocked that last year. But then the big part will be the parade. Some floats, mostly people walking, like, this mile-long route around the city or something. Ben’s doing a speech about what he wants to do on a legal basis.”

Actually, Mal remembered him talking about that. Something about positive action in legal representation. She hadn’t understood enough to keep up with it, though.

“But he’s not sure whether he’s walking in the actual parade. I, though, am _totally_ walking in the actual parade. We’re sponsoring a float.”

“Okay, how about you show me the dress first, and then we’ll figure out the rest later,” said Evie, with a glance over at Mal. Mal gave a half-shrug; she wasn’t keeping up with most of this either. Probably just better to ask Ben, or even get Carlos to work some of his magic on the laptop that Ben had given him as a gift and which he was turning out to be amazing with.

Audrey flourished the notebook. “Blue, pink and purple,” she said. “Bright, though, not like,” she waved to the gentle pastels she was currently wearing, “you know. Like the flag.”

“Dornrose’s flag isn’t those colours,” said Mal, frowning.

Evie turned her attention to the notebook, hmm’ed to herself, and then grabbed a pen from her bedside table. She started making notes and sketching around whatever it was that Audrey had given her.

Audrey, on the other hand, sighed. “No, not that flag. The bisexual flag.”

“They have a flag?”

Audrey just shook her head. “Oh my god,” she said. “I totally need to get El in to help me explain some of this stuff to you. They’re gonna kill me. But I am not doing this by myself.”

“What fabrics were you thinking?” said Evie. At least clothing talk was something that Mal had learnt to block out a while ago.

“Hadn’t thought about it, really. Just… go bold. There’s no such thing as over-the-top when it comes to Pride.”

Evie’s face lit up, and it was probably the most interested that Mal had seen her look since Audrey had first announced that she needed a new outfit. Smirking, Mal shook her head, left the pair of them to it, and turned back to her politics.

 

 

 

 

 

El, as it turned out, was the younger child of Elsa of Arendelle and Marisol of Eldora. Tall, slender, and answering to ‘they’, it also became rapidly apparent that they were distractingly attractive, very intelligent, and had more than a few biting comments to share on the matter of magic in Auradon. Comments that they apparently thought best punctuated with swirls of icy magic.

Between them, El and Audrey managed to lead them on a high-speed history of Gay Pride in Auradon, beginning with the various states pre-unification and then launching into what had happened since. Mal did not understand a lot of it, but did her best to keep up with the political and legal side at the very least, while Evie did something fiddly with purple sequins and listened intently.

“So, this year’s going to be bigger than ever, right?” said Evie.

“Definitely,” said Audrey. She lounged on Evie’s bed, feet in El’s lap, and was supposed to be reading the book for English Lit that was currently resting on her chest instead. The explanation about Pride had apparently become more involved than she had intended. “I’m kind of surprised that Ben didn’t ask you to come. But maybe it’s too early to be doing a VKs float or anything like that.”

“Yeah, I think that would be a bit much,” Mal said.

“I get the feeling,” Evie paused in her sewing, checking the lay of the sequins and running a hand over them to make sure that they flowed to her satisfaction, “that would mean a _lot_ more sewing.”

Audrey wrinkled her nose. “If they’d taken my advice on what to have the tourney team’s float in, they probably would have asked you for that, as well. Although,” she smirked, “that wouldn’t have been too much sewing.”

“What did you have planned?” said Mal.

“Rainbow thongs and helmets.”

Evie burst out laughing, and Mal tried to restrain herself for all of a few seconds before joining in as well. The thought of Jay’s face was one thing; the thought of Carlos’s was quite another.

“Is Ben with the tourney team in this fantasy of yours?” said El. Audrey grabbed the nearest potential projectile, mercifully a balled-up piece of paper with one of Evie’s earlier ideas on it, and threw it at them.

“Now that would be a draw for the parade,” Mal said. One of the few times that she cursed her pale cheeks was how easily they showed when she blushed, though, and she could feel the heat rising in them now. Maleficent had used it as a way to train Mal into controlling her emotions, but the blushing was becoming more frequent now that she was setting into Auradon more. “Come see your new king’s butt. Free entry for over-sixty fives.”

“Say, Mal, someone tells me,” El made as if to tickle Audrey’s feet, and Audrey gave them a warning look, “that you’ve got a little magic of your own.”

Mal shrugged. “Half fae. Comes with the territory.”

“Wish I had that excuse,” said El. “But the magic predates the trolls intervention, so…” they shrugged.

“Are you planning on coming, Mal?” said Audrey. There was less cattiness in her voice than usual, Mal was surprised to note; it sounded more like genuine curiosity. Apparently giving up on her Lit novel, she put in a bookmark designed to look like a feather and set it aside. “Plenty of us do; it’s a great party. And good visibility, of course, but I think most of us are there for the party.”

Mal snorted and pointed at whatever Evie was working on. “I’m not wearing sequins.”

“Purple’s fine,” said Audrey. “You’ll fit right in. Maybe look a bit underdressed, but it’s not like anyone’s going to complain.”

“I’ll think about it.”

 

 

 

 

 

Truth was, she couldn’t really stop thinking about it. First it was Evie making a dress for Audrey, and Audrey getting increasingly excited as she watched the sequinned minidress, expertly fitted, take shape. When Evie finally revealed her hidden trick – as if just working with sequins was not difficult enough – of attaching hidden wings that Audrey could attach to her wrist and stretch out to form the flag itself, Mal was pretty sure that she saw the real-life example of delirious. But then word apparently got round, because suddenly it was Doug saying that he couldn’t find anywhere that sold bow ties in lavender, green and black – of course, Evie could make one – then Jane asking whether she could get a dress in purple, black, grey and white. That, Evie assured her, was a breeze.

“They should give you a room to make into a store,” said Mal, sitting on her bed not so much out of choice but because there seemed to be fabric on every available surface. It was nice to see Evie so animated, and she didn’t mind – or at least, she hadn’t until the last couple of days, as Evie started to looking nervous over whatever she was currently doing with fabric in every colour of the rainbow.

Evie laughed, but it sounded strained. “I remember Jafar complaining about rent. Not something I want to experience.”

Not that Jafar had necessarily paid that rent, but that had been the Isle of the Lost. In Auradon, it would probably be rather more shocking.

Evie fussed over whatever she was currently doing with the fabric. There were drapes in the bodice, and sort of chiffon-ish sleeves, but Mal was pretty sure that it hadn’t finished taking shape yet. There was the vague impression of a person draped in a rainbow, the fabric rippling like water. Whoever it was for, they were going to look good. And with the number of clothes Evie had made over the past months, she had managed to buy an actual dressmaker’s dummy – one that could actually be adjusted, and didn’t have its head fall off every so often.

“Who’s that for, then?” said Mal, tucking her hair back. Loose hair had style, sure, but it did get in her eyes when she was trying to memorise the politics of the enchanted woodlands and the sentient trees that guarded them. Evie jumped, looking around in surprise, and Mal nodded to the dummy. “The dress.”

“That?” Evie shrugged. It looked hurried, not quite like her, and Mal propped her chin in her hand and regarded the scene. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just something I’m working on. Nice to just sew for sewing’s sake, you know?”

She gathered up some of the fabric, tilted her head, then dropped it again with a sigh.

“It probably doesn’t matter, anyway.”

Mal wasn’t good at this whole _feelings_ business. She could blame it on the Isle of the Lost, but even on Auradon and surrounded by what she knew were many positive examples of interpersonal interaction, she still found herself watching coldly. But even if she wasn’t good at feelings, she thought she was getting pretty good at Evie, and she could see that something was definitely wrong. She swung her legs off the bed and stood up, trying not to make any sudden movements.

“What’s up?”

“Has Ben talked to you about going to Pride?” said Evie, as if she had not even heard Mal’s question. She spun in place to face Mal, lips slightly pursed and gaze piercing. “I remember you saying that he’d decided to actually march in the parade, right? Flag and all?”

“Uh, no, he hadn’t asked,” Mal replied. She might have been at his coronation as official girlfriend, but they had backed off a little since, with fewer official public appearances. It had been mostly for Mal’s benefit, she knew that, so that she was not overwhelmed by trying to balance fitting into Auradon and everything that Ben was doing all at the same time. She had no idea how he found time to sleep, and teased him about beastly stamina until she had realised just how dirty it sounded and both of them had gone red to the ears. “Though Audrey made it sound like a bit of a howler anyway. Might check it out. You going with Doug?”

“Doug’s going. He asked if I wanted to go.” Evie shifted, ankles still crossed from where she had spun, and reached up to fiddle with a curl of her hair. Not flirting fiddling, Mal could see easily. Mal crossed her arms, jutting out one hip. “You know, as friends.”

“Oh.” Mal frowned. “I thought you guys were…”

Evie shook her head. She had that look where she was biting the inside of her lip, and her eyes were fixed on Mal’s left shoulder. Mal resisted the urge to look and make sure there wasn’t a tear in her seam or something. “No,” said Evie finally. “We’re just… friends, you know?”

“Well, cool,” said Mal, with a shrug. “I mean, we’re friends with Jay and Carlos, as well, and Jay flirts with you more than Doug goes. I worried I’d have to tell Doug to up his game.”

Evie smiled, though it didn’t look like her heart was completely in it. “I think Jay flirts with _everyone_ more than _anyone_ else does. I’ve even seen Ben look surprised from time to time.”

“Because Jay was flirting with me, or because Jay was flirting with him?” Mal raised an eyebrow. That, at least, got a giggle. “Yeah, you’re right, probably both. Hey, if you wanna go, let’s go for it. If it’s boring I’m sure we’ll find some way to liven it up.”

“That sounds nice,” said Evie.

She went to turn back to the dress, and Mal’s meagre patience ticked away a little more. She stepped forward and caught Evie by the arm, firmly but not tight enough for it to be uncomfortable. _That_ was a line that Mal had put work into toeing.

“Evie,” she said, more softly. “What’s up?”

Evie sighed, almost a huff, and looked at Mal just for a moment before her eyes slipped back to Mal’s shoulder. “It’s just that everyone’s been talking about it, you know? It kinda seems like everyone’s going to be there.”

“Well… if you _don’t_ want to go, then we don’t have to,” said Mal. It was sort of a guess, and she was pretty sure that it wasn’t the right one. Mostly, she wanted Evie to stop looking like she was thinking of running, that flicker in her eyes that Mal had learnt to recognise while just a kid. “But if you want to, then it’s not like we’re going to get in trouble for it, clearly. Sounds like it’s somewhere to be.”

Evie blinked quickly, the slightest tremble to her lip. Tiny expressions, ones that might not have been so noticeable to anyone else. Then she took another deep breath, her shoulders set like she had decided something, and looked Mal in the eye again.

“When I was about eight, my mother was talking about marrying princes, again. And I definitely remember that I asked whether marrying a princess would be as good, and she said that no, that was silly, it was only a _prince_ that I was going to marry.”

“O… kay?” said Mal.

Evie’s gaze took on a hint of desperation. “Mal,” she said. “I think I like girls.”

“Okay,” said Mal, not sure quite what else Evie expected. “That… doesn’t bother me or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.” She’d never really thought, herself, about who she was attracted to. Using the love spell on _Ben_ hadn’t even been predicated on the idea of being attracted to him, and it had only been when they were spending time together that she had noticed things about him – the way he smiled, the way his eyes softened when he looked at her – that she’d felt the flutter in her chest. She tried for a moment to think if it would have been different if Ben had been a girl, but it didn’t really feel like it would have done.

“What was it like, on the rest of the Isle?” said Evie. “Did people… care, much, about that?”

“Well, most people didn’t care for romance at all,” Mal said, with another shrug. “If you acted like you _liked_ someone, you were pretty well going to make yourself a target. Hell, _friendship_ was enough of a target.”

Alliances, now, that was something the Isle of the Lost could get behind. Allies could be betrayed, after all. But friendships were something stronger, and longer-lasting, and anything that could not be dropped at a moment’s notice looked too much like an anchor.

But she knew that wasn’t what Evie was asking. Mal sighed. “People… didn’t really talk about it, at least. It wasn’t like it was an accusation to be thrown at someone, but when girls were into girls… or guys were into guys… they kept it pretty quiet.”

None quieter than Evie, apparently. Mal had watched everyone with careful eyes, missing nothing. The ways that people glanced at each other across rooms, the way that people changed at the mention of certain names. Everything that people did could be ammunition, if you know how to take it in, and more than a few times Mal had seen people attracted to those of their own gender. Perhaps there had been others, the ones that carefully didn’t show attraction to anyone at all. But Evie had so openly flirted, so openly used her sexuality, that Mal had never stopped to think it might not have been _her_ sexuality at all.

“They’re so _open_ about it here!” Evie blurted. “The King’s ex-girlfriend is going to be dancing on a float wearing a bisexual pride flag! My mother didn’t even _teach_ me the word bisexual!”

“Hey,” said Mal, more playfully, “put it on the list with _duhzies_.” When Evie didn’t smile, and even looked a little more worried, Mal knew that she’d missed the mark. She rubbed Evie’s arm. “I think this is another one where we should probably be following Auradon’s lead, not the Isle’s.”

“You think so?”

Mal smiled. “Yeah. I think this is one that _they_ got right.”

It was worth all of the fumbling words just to see Evie actually smiling again.

 

 

 

 

 

As Mal had started to suspect midway through their conversation, the rainbow-flowing dress was indeed one that Evie was making for herself. After a few days, Evie started nervously asking Mal whether she thought certain girls were pretty, and whatever Mal actually thought she made sure to agree with Evie to see the growing relief in her eyes. As the build-up to Pride really got going, there were an increasing number of rainbow wristbands and lapel pins, and excited talking about what was happening in town.

Ben was always sporting a wristband, pin, or on a couple of occasions a rainbow-striped tie that no matter how perfect the knot made him look even younger than he was. Mal made sure to get one of the rainbow wristbands and wear it prominently, and couldn’t help a smile when Evie finally dared to get one as well. Of course, by then it seemed like over half the school was wearing one, so it was hardly as if it was a glaring sign, but Mal knew why Evie had hesitated so long.

Sometimes she still heard her mother’s voice telling her all of the things that were wrong with her, as well.

There were some films, which someone always seemed to wanted to watch, and Mal took every excuse to go to them and take Evie along with her. Even when she found herself more interested in the background trees and plants, and wondering why animals from different ecosystems were apparently appearing in the same film together, she just needed to glance over and see Evie, rapt. Whatever Evie was seeing, it was worth however uninterested Mal was in the whole thing.

School was cancelled for the week; some kids went home, but it seemed like far more of them had friends and family coming to stay, instead. Siblings appeared in rooms if parents were too busy at state events, and Mal found herself faced with far more names than she had ever expected to be faced with. She finally got to meet El’s older sister Marie, who also had the ice powers but was somewhat less ostentatious in her use of them.

It was, of course, Jane who managed to actually get hold of a schedule, and somewhat to Mal’s surprise everyone ended up in her and Evie’s room trying to discuss what they should go to and when they should split up. It meant about a dozen people trying to speak at once, and if Mal hadn’t been so amused at the whole thing it probably would have resulted in a headache.

As it was, she sat in Ben’s lap, after he had playfully pulled rank to get hold of one of the chairs in the room, and rolled her eyes at all of them trying to read one schedule.

“Schedule I see, now double thee,” she said, with a flick of her wrist. Jane gasped at the green sparks that flew across the paper in her hand, and then looked askance when she realised that Mal was holding an identical copy.

Ben poked her in the ribs. “Hey. Magic rules.”

“Which are school rules, not laws,” responded Mal without looking round, “and therefore basically made to be broken. Besides, you’ve relaxed the laws for this week while there are so many Arendellens in town – no offence, El.”

El, who had made their own chair out of ice, grinned. “No sweat. Always glad to shake up some laws.”

Marie gave them a pointed look, and they responded with a stuck-out tongue. Good to know, Mal supposed, that siblings were siblings even when they were royalty.

“What are you going to?” said Mal to Ben. It sounded like there was some sort of debate breaking out about the charity tourney match that was being played, against the daytime performance by standup comic Lilo – ‘You _have_ to come see her!’ Aria was saying, despite the protests led by Jay. ‘She is _beyond_ amazing! She has this whole routine about this stray dog that she adopted–‘

“I’m _officially_ going to be at the raising of the flag, and the main parade,” said Ben. “And I definitely want to attend the regional panels, this one on Apheliotia and this one on Schwartzvald in particular. Although if I can make it to the Neverland afternoon party, I definitely will.”

Mal snorted. “You’re such a kid sometimes.”

“You’re like four months older than me!”

Yeah, but she hadn’t grown up within the safe arms of Auradon. Mal squirmed, none-too-accidentally putting an elbow in Ben’s ribs as she did so. “Yeah, sure. I’m interested in this art exhibition on Thursday. And I should probably check out this ‘generation of queer fashion’ one on Monday.”

“Fashion?” said Ben. He had noticed quickly enough that Mal only really wore one pair of boots, and had been annoyed when he had pried them from her long enough to get the soles actually fixed up. “What, you want to ogle the models in the skimpy costumes when they’re doing the show at the end of the afternoon?”

“Totally,” Mal said, without looking up. She leafed to the next page. “Can’t think of anything better than men dressed better than me to ogle.”

She suspected that Ben knew she would be going for Evie’s sake. She _wasn’t_ sure how much he had guessed of why Evie was so invested in the week, but she wasn’t going to be the one to tell him. “What about the parties? Any howlers?”

“Firstly, I still have no idea what that actually means since you have refused to explain it,” said Ben. Mal laughed. “And secondly, I told you about that fake ID.”

“That you know nothing about any fake ID.”

Ben sighed. “Exactly,” he said.

It wasn’t as if the King could condone his girlfriend sneaking into over-eighteen and even over-twenty-one events, after all. But he knew that it was part of her; part of where she came from, her curiosity, and her determination to press the rules. All of the VKs were officially under the guardianship of the crown, which still meant Beast and Belle since Ben himself was not actually of age yet. But Ben trusted them enough that he was pushing for them to be fully legally emancipated, so as illegal as it was he had admitted that he trusted them to sneak into a club or two along the way.

“I’m sorry I’m late! I’m sorry I’m late!” Aziz burst into the room, almost falling over himself.

Ally popped up. “That’s supposed to be _my_ line, you know!”

“Well, I could claim today is an _un_ important date, if you’d rather,” he replied, with a flashed grin in her direction.

“I really want to see this panel on being trans, as well,” said Ben. “That’s the part I’ve done the least reading on, so… you totally aren’t paying attention,” he finished.

Mal rewarded him with a poke in the ribs. She _was_ paying attention, although admittedly it was not really to what he was talking about or where he was pointing in the schedule. Her eyes were firmly fixed on Evie, whose gaze was firmly fixed, in turn, on the door.

“I’m sorry,” said the girl who walked into the room behind Aziz. “My plane was late, and my marvellous baby brother;” her voice became syrupy-sweet, with a wicked smile, as she ruffled Aziz’s hair. He tried to pull away indignantly. “Just had to wait for me.”

“Guys, this is Jalila,” said Aziz, with a wave at his sister. “Jalila, in revenge for that, I will allow you to find out the names yourself.”

At a glance around the room, Mal was fairly sure that she could tell exactly who had met Jalila before and who hadn’t, just from the expressions on their faces. But even the curiosity clear on Jay’s face, and for that matter the curiosity flickering in Mal’s own mind, was nothing compared to the _fascinated_ look on Evie’s face.

Mal sat for moment, watching Evie watching Jalila with a look of slow, dawning amazement on her face. Then she smiled, and made a mental note to find out where Jalila was going to be spending her time while in Auradon. She suspected that she was going to coincidentally find many of the same things fascinating.

 

 

 

 

 

Audrey and Mal might have been managing to approximate friendship, but Jay and Aziz got along like a house on fire. At least, in the Auradon sense of ‘a house on fire’, which meant amazingly, and not the Isle of the Lost sense which would probably mean _setting_ each other’s houses on fire and brawling in the streets. Aziz caught Jay climbing over a wall he shouldn’t have been climbing over, and had immediately invited him to join the parkour club. It was not at all uncommon to find them climbing up trees and onto rooves while Ben pretended to be annoyed whenever he caught them.

It hadn’t stopped Mal from nearly turning the pair of them into frogs when they tried to climb in through her bedroom window, but they had ducked too quickly.

At the very least, it meant that Aziz was definitely going to watch the tourney, so Jalila was as well. Mal immediately threw in her vote for the tourney, promising Aria that she would watch Lilo online and agreeing to the threat-promises that she would be receiving DVDs of Lilo’s performances for Christmas.

“You’re just hoping I take my shirt off again,” Ben teased.

Mal smirked. “Me and three-quarters of the crowd. The rest are just jealous of your abs.”

He kissed her cheek before heading off to join the others in getting ready. Mal took her seat beside Evie, who didn’t look at all out of place with the rainbow on her tee, no matter that she had put it on and taken it off again several times that morning before Mal had told her that it would be fine.

“Your mascot wears _armour_?” said Jalila, sounding on the verge of laughter. She had fountains of dark hair, a wry smile, and was wearing turquoise silk. Mal had tried to be as subtle as possible about sitting Evie between them, but judging by the glare she had received it had not been all that subtle at all.

“Yeah. I had to teach Jane a couple of spells to keep the inside of that thing cool in summer. Gotta be better than strapping ice packs to her head.”

“I can bet.” Jalila chuckled. “If she tried that in Agrabah, I think she’d be a one-time-only mascot.”

Her phone went off in her pocket, and she shifted to pull it out, leaning against Evie as she did so. Evie tried to lean into Mal to get out of the way, going pink beneath her blusher – though it was only really visible around her ears, considering her makeup was so perfect – but Mal remained stubbornly in place.

“Mom?” Jalila muttered to herself. She opened up what must have been a text, then said something in Arabic that, by her tone, must have been swearing.

“What’s up?” said Aziz.

Jalila stuffed her phone angrily back into her pocket. “I left my dress for the parade back in Agrabah. Mom just sent me a picture of it to ask if I’d meant to.”

“I bet Evie can make a replacement,” said Mal, finishing her bottle of water. She almost went to toss it aside, before remembering that this was _Auradon_. “Grab pictures from each side.”

“Mal!” Evie hissed.

But Jalila was already turning, eyes wide and hopeful, smile burgeoning on her lips. “You could do that?” she said.

It was kind of fascinating, Mal thought. Faced with a guy, or even one of their female friends, Evie would have been all business, talking about what fabric she would need, whether she had it at the moment or would need the money to buy more, how long it would take. But even with Jalila looking at her eagerly, Evie hesitated, smile faltering but honest, and not the mask that she put on for so many people even now.

“Hey, you grab some pictures, I’ll get the next round of drinks,” said Mal, when Evie failed to manage anything. “One from each side and, like, one of the zipper or whatever there is to fasten it. Evie, come give me a hand carrying the drinks,” she added, with a tug on Evie’s elbow.

“Why are you paying?” said Carlos, leaning forward to talk from all the way on the other side of Aziz.

Mal flashed him a cocky grin. “Because my boyfriend just scored another goal.”

As if on cue, a roar of approval went up from the crowd, and the cheerleaders – in appropriately rainbow-coloured skirts for the occasion – took to the pitch. Mal caught Evie by the arm and pulled her away in the direction of the drinks stand, tossing her empty drinks bottle in the appropriate recycling bin along the way.

“What are you _doing_?” said Evie, wide-eyed.

It took effort not to laugh. “What are _you_ doing?” Mal replied. “I thought you knew better than that how to flirt.”

She did regret it a little at the panic in Evie’s eyes, then Evie shut it down and tilted her chin haughtily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, please,” said Mal. She took Evie by the arms. “I know you, E. You like her. Talk to her!”

Mal knew that she didn’t exactly have the best experience when it came to getting together. She’d never really _flirted_ with Ben, just used reverse psychology to get him to eat the cookies. Once they were actually dating, it had been weirdly easy to go along with it all, had come naturally, but they’d kind of skipped the actual first stage of asking each other out.

“I’m not suggesting that you do a musical number and throw your shirt around,” Mal added, thinking of Ben, and Evie laughed. Whether it was because she knew what Mal was referencing, or because the idea was so absurd, was hard to say. “But hey, make the dress for her. We’ve got like four days until the big parade, that should be enough time, right?”

Clothes seemed to be easier territory. “Yeah. I saw the dress over her shoulder. It didn’t look too complicated. Mostly turquoise, with these pink and yellow highlights.”

Mal hadn’t even seen that much. She just trusted that Evie would be able to do it. “Well, there you go. You’ve even got yellow already, haven’t you?”

“Some, sure.”

The confidence was returning to Evie’s voice, and Mal was determined to get her the chance to speak to Jalila alone if she had to lock them in a room to do it. That probably wasn’t a very Auradon way of doing things, she supposed, then wondered whether they had seven minutes in heaven here as well as on the Isle. Probably better not to ask.

But then Evie paused, and bit her lip again. “But what if _she_ doesn’t like girls?”

“Agrabah’s a long way to come for a party,” said Mal, with a shrug. “Besides, don’t worry. I’ll find out.” She was pretty sure that she could get a conversation with Aziz round to the topic of why his sister had come all the way to Auradon just for Pride, and without either of their parents coming for a visit either.

“What if I say something _wrong_?”

“Then she goes back to Agrabah and you chalk it up to a learning process.” Mal stepped to the side so that she could properly catch Evie’s eye, and smiled. “E, you can do this. You had half the Isle wrapped round your pinky finger; I think you can manage to charm one Agrabahn princess.”

“You really think so?”

Mal rolled her eyes playfully. “Faster than you can say ‘ _Open, Sesame’_.”

 

 

 

 

 

Mal would gladly have left Evie and Jalila to the dress planning, making and fitting by themselves, but Evie had all but begged her to stay in the room. As a compromise, she retreated to her own bed, read or continued to practice using the smartphone that Ben had given her, with earphones in but no music on.

As she suspected, once Evie got a grip on her nervousness, they got on well. Jalila was interested in the Isle of the Lost, but sympathetic, and confided that Aladdin and Jasmine had not been wholly pleased with the idea but had essentially bargained in in return for a certain level of magical independence in Agrabah.

“You’ve met Jordan, I’m guessing,” said Jalila, with a quirk of her lips. “Her magic? Agrabahn protection.”

“Mal’s the one who’s all about magical law,” said Evie, even as she sewed a perfect seam. “But, yes, we did notice that Jordan was pretty free with her magic. I think I’ve still got the skirt she made for me. It’s pretty cute.”

“Really?” Jalila leant forwards. She was sitting sideways in her chair, elbow propped on the back and head leant against her hand. Her eyes shone. “Or is it you who’s cute in it?”

Evie made a little squeaking sound, but did take her foot off the pedal of her sewing machine so as not to ruin the dress. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, Mal steadfastly did not raise her eyes from her phone. Ben was midway through a series of excited texts about his meeting with Arendellen representatives and what their laws about gender and sexuality could influence in Auradon. Mal sent him a quick thumbs up emoji and let him continue.

Jailia laughed. “I’m teasing,” she said, then added a wink. “I’m sure it’s both.”

There was only a moment’s hesitation in Evie’s eyes before her flirtatious smile slipped back into place, and she continued with her sewing. “Well,” she said, “Jordan’s clothes might be _cute_ , but mine are _showstoppers_.” She closed off the end of the seam, drew the dress out, and stood up to give it a flourish. Holding the dress up against herself, though Jalila was a few inches shorter, she looked across. “You ready to break some hearts?"

Jalila slid to her feet and held out one hand. “As long as I don’t break all of them. You know, I _was_ thinking that you undercharged me a little for the dress there.”

“I don’t price-hike,” said Evie sweetly, swinging the dress against herself rather than handing it over.

“Hmm.” Jalila pretended to think, drawing her hand back to place one fingertip against her lips. From her place on the bed, Mal snuck another glance, but this time Evie did not even seem to notice. The two of them were securely in their own world. “And here was me thinking that the difference would be about the amount for two tickets to the under-twenty-one disco ball on Friday.”

Evie’s breath hitched, and she stopped her playful swaying as her eyes went wide. “Really?” she said.

For a reply, Jalila just smiled, warmly and with light in her eyes.

“I would _love_ to,” Evie said. She finally held out the dress, and Jalila accepted it with both hands. “Though I’ll probably need to put a few hours into finishing my dress first.”

“Make it a showstopper.” Jalila winked. “Now, I need to go ask my brother where his parkour team are breaking into to put up more rainbow flags today. You didn’t hear that,” she added, as she reached the door. Evie put her hands over her ears, and Jalila laughed. “Should’ve guessed you were good at keeping secrets, too.”

“It’s a talent,” said Evie. She dropped one hand to her hip, but the other remained to play with her hair. Not the nervous fiddling this time, Mal was glad to see. “I like to think of it as one of many.”

“Well, in that case, I definitely hope that dancing is on the list.”

 

 

 

 

 

“So,” said Ben. “You’re going to be at the main parade tomorrow, right?”

“Yup.” Mal sat against his side, head on his shoulder, as the waited for the latest movie to start. It was something about an interracial couple called Pronk and Bucky and their tumultuous relationship, and had apparently been critically acclaimed. “Been scouting out the best viewpoints. Well, the best ones I can get to without magic or being part of the parkour team,” she added, poking Jay in the back of her head with one boot. He grabbed for her foot without looking, and missed.

“Would you, uh,” Ben shifted in his seat. “Would you like to walk with me? At the front?” When Mal turned in surprise, he reddened. “I mean, you don’t have to or anything. I just wondered if you might like to.”

“Is this, like, a girlfriend-of-the-King thing?” said Mal. “Or a VK-representative thing? Or…?”

“Neither?” said Ben. Mal raised an eyebrow. “Both? Sort of a bit of both, but I’d also just really like my girlfriend with me for this, because it’s going to be a historic event and I’m really nervous?”

“You’re adorable.” Mal leant over and kissed him on the cheek. “And yes, I’ll walk with you. I’ll just, like, borrow one of those rainbow shirts Evie’s been making or something.”

Ben looked inordinately relieved. Curling her feet beneath her, Mal snuggled closer into his side

 

 

 

 

 

“Do you think you’d still want to date me if I were a guy?” said Mal, much later that night. They sat overlooking the lake, Ben’s light jacket wrapped around both of them. Fireworks were going off, rainbows of fire in the sky, and they reflected and shimmered in the lakes surface; every so often, a shift in the wind bought the strains of music across to them.

She felt Ben tilting his head to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“If I were a guy. Would we still be dating?”

“Are you… asking me if I’m bisexual?”

“I guess so.” Mal pursed her lips.

“Probably not,” he admitted. “I don’t know for sure, I mean… you aren’t a guy. And I think I’d still want you for a friend, but not a boyfriend.” His arm squeezed around her shoulders. “You’re not offended, are you?”

Mal chuckled. Auradonians could be adorable. “It’s going to take a lot more than _that_ to offend me.”

“Good,” said Ben, laughing. “What about you? Think you’d have gone through with the plan if I were a girl?”

His tone was teasing, but it gave Mal pause. “Probably,” she said, softly.

“Huh.” Ben paused. “Fair enough. I don’t mind.”

His cheek came to rest against the top of her head, and they fell silent as they watched the fireworks on the water.

She hadn’t been thinking about it in that way, she supposed. Romance just wasn’t a thing on the Isle. She knew some people, even kids their age, who were screwing around; without magic, there were only so many ways for the villains to have children. Not all of them involved sex, true, but it really was the most reliable method. But without birth control, the kids on the Isle knew that there were certain types of screwing around that were wiser than others.

For her part, Mal had no interest in sex as some sort of recreational activity, not considering it worth the potential consequences for a bit of fun that, for her, could be easily enough replaced with some sort of wickedness. Once she had settled that, she hadn’t spent time worrying about who she found attractive. Friends were liabilities enough; lovers were unthinkable for the heir to the Mistress of All Evil.

But Auradon accepted it, welcomed it, even _encouraged_ it, acted like romance and love and sacrifice were good things rather than ridiculous weaknesses. They had words that nobody on the island would bother with.

She’d worry about those words one day. For now, what mattered was that she had Ben. Mal turned her head to press a kiss to his shoulder, the easiest part of him to reach, and he hugged her a little tighter in return.

 

 

 

 

 

Ben carried a huge rainbow flag, and did his best to wave it as the parade continued. At least until it got tangled in someone else’s flag and they had to try to untangle it while still walking, although he never stopped smiling and Mal had more than a sneaking suspicion that the cameras snapping away would make him look great anyway. The wind seemed to unravel them at just the right moment, and looking into the crowd Mal caught El’s eye. They winked.

Weirdly, Mal was glad that she was at the front of the parade. Ben was good at keeping a steady pace, and though there was a roar of noise and a crowd of people it was only really on three sides, the road ahead clear of them. She held up the end of the blue, pink and purple flag that she was helping to carry, and heard the cheering behind them increase. Probably Audrey and her sparkling dress; the sky was clear, sun bright, and the music was riotous from every float including the one where Audrey and various other people were dancing.

Mal had teased her about just wanting to get out of walking. Audrey had, unfortunately correctly, pointed out that dancing probably took _more_ effort anyway, especially in the high heels she was wearing to match her dress.

The parade rounded a corner, and Mal took the opportunity to peek further back. She smiled at the sight of Evie, her rainbow-pouring dress finished and bright even among a parade full of rainbows, laughing as she waved up to Jay and Aziz perched on their latest ridiculous rooftop. Evie grabbed the hand of someone beside her and pulled them over as well, and for a moment Mal was able to catch sight of Jalila before a building got in the way and she had to concentrate on where she was walking once again.

“Flag getting heavy yet?” she teased, elbowing Ben in the ribs. The slight wobble at the bottom of the flag became an outright waggle at the top.

He fought to steady it. “Nope! Still good!”

“Good. We’ve got, what, another two miles to go?”

“A way to go,” Ben agreed, and he had that sort of kingly look in his eye and curve to his smile which mad her suspect that he was talking about something rather more. “But we’ve already started, and we are definitely,” he hitched the flag, and looked proudly at it, “on our way.”


End file.
